Reindeer are still very radioactive 30 years after Chernobyl

Thirty years after a nuclear power plant exploded at Chernobyl, the reindeer that walk the picturesque, snow-capped mountains of Scandinavia are still radioactive.

They weren’t the only ones affected. For generations, the Sami people, native to the Arctic North, lived in harmony with nature.

Many worked as boazovázzi, or ‘reindeer walkers’, herding the animals over hundreds of miles of terrain and selling their meat come slaughter season. The reindeer were a cultural and economic centrepiece for the Sami people.

But the explosion – considered the worst civilian nuclear disaster in history – coated the earth with toxic material, turned the reindeer radioactive, and poisoned the Sami people’s way of life.

Photographer Amos Chapple with Radio Free Europe traveled to the Norwegian village of Snasa, where he met with herders fighting to preserve their traditions.

“The aftermath of Chernobyl was devastating,” Chapple tells Business Insider.

“[The herders] went from living this timeless lifestyle, completely at one with nature, to suddenly working in one of the most contaminated places on earth.”

Amos Chapple

Thirty years later, conditions have improved. The radioactivity of the cesium-137 released has decayed by half, but much of the slow-growing lichen remains unsafe. In 2014, hundreds of reindeer failed inspection due to strong fungus growth.

Sami herders in Snasa, who eat reindeer, get tested annually for radiation. They tell Chapple they will always live in the shadow of Chernobyl.

Bjorn-Owe Holmberg/AP

Source: sciencealert.com

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